The
first prototype of the Mazda Cosmo 110S was introduced at the
1964 Tokyo Motor Show, a year later 80 pre-production Cosmos
were manufactured for the Mazda test department (20) and for
dealership testing (60). Full scale production of the Cosmo
began in May 1967 at a rate of around 1 car per day due to the
fact the cars were hand built.
The Cosmo 110S was a quaintly styled coupe which appeared to
be almost European in style. The Cosmo was created as a production
test bed for the rotary Wankel engine. In the Cosmo was a twin-rotor
unit which initially produced 110 hp, later cars (1968 - 1972)
made around 128 hp. The later cars also benefited from a slightly
longer wheelbase and a close ratio 5-speed gearbox.
The handling of the Mazda Cosmo was brilliant (partly due to
the lightweight engine) but the ride was quite hard. A the front
was wishbone suspension and at the rear a live axle with a DeDion
tube.
In total just 1,519 Mazda Cosmos were produced between 1967
and 1972. Of these only six were imported to North America.
One of these currently resides in Jay Leno's garage.
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